Monday, December 08, 2014

We're working on the dining room, trying to get it up to speed. We had taken the carpet out back in August and it's been a mess since then. Now we're making a push to finish it up. The floor in there was a nice maple, long covered by carpet and glue. It's looking pretty good now, patched, stained, and finished. I removed the false ceiling and fixed the holes in the plaster there. I'm currently working on getting the east wall, long covered by wallpaper and paneling, into shape.

One of the improvements will be putting vintage mop boards and chair rails back into the room. They are long gone, but it's clear they were part of an early version of the room. We're interested in how the design of the room has changed. In the first photo below, you can see outlines of where trim surrounded an old doorway, and the discolored panel to the right shows where there appears to have been another door. But lath and plaster reveals that those changes were made LONG LONG ago.

The wife is choosing colors to make it pop, and trim from the old Mason's building downtown Madison will surround the doorway and provide a new, vintage mop board. It's going to be much nicer.

We are also refinishing the oak floor in the entry way.

The doorway from the kitchen to the dining room is opened up.

Repairs needed on the east wall. Cracks! The chimney creates a little trouble.

Once we took the carpet up, this glue hid the wood.

Penny does NOT like the floor.

Partway through sanding. I had never used a big sander before.

Sanding the edges.

The completed floor, patched and stained. I don't remember if this photo came before or after the final coats of poly.